Would You Write Python Articles or Screencasts for Money?

[Hendrik van Rooyen]

 "Steve Holden" <steve at holdenweb.com> wrote:


> Jeff Rush wrote:
> > There is discussion by the Python Software Foundation of offering cash
> > bounties or perhaps periodic awards to the "best of" for magazine articles,
> > video/screencast clips and such.
> >
> > If YOU would be swayed to get involved in producing content in exchange for
> > cash, please speak up on the advocacy mailing list and also drop an email to
> > Steve Holden <steve at holdenweb.com>, current champion of this idea and
looking
> > for encouragement.  Ideas on how to evaluate contributions, how frequently
to
> > do this and critical thresholds of cash amounts necessary to induce YOUR
> > participation are wanted.
> >
> Thanks for posting this, Jeff. I have already had a couple of replies.
> Allow me to expand on my current thinking before this gets off-track.
>
> Lest people be lulled into thinking that the PSF is going into the
> "articles for cash" business, let me say that isn't really the idea. I
> don't really think we will necessarily improve the quality of
> information about Python simply by throwing cash incentives at authors,
> and I was more looking for a way to reward authors of excellence, as
> judged by some subset of the Python community - this might have to be
> the PSF membership given the impracticality of running a meaningful poll
> with a larger set of voters.

I get a bit confused here - when you say "articles" - what forum do you have
in mind?

I would suggest that paying for articles would make sense on a commisioned
basis, if there were to be an identified "hole" in the documentation, or for
some technique or recipe which is not well covered, and deserving of more
exposure.

>
> So the intention is not so much to encourage people who wouldn't
> otherwise write to start writing (desirable though this outcome might
> be, I don't think cash incentives are the right way to achieve it) but
> rather to reward *excellence* in Python writing and underline the fact
> that standards are important.
>
> There are many other possibilities too. What about an award for "most
> helpful responses on c.l.py" over some period? I think one of the
> reasons people find Python so useful is its helpful community, and it
> would be nice to see the tireless fielders of questions rewarded for
> their community contribution.
>

This is a good idea - I sometimes marvel at the degree of effort that
some of the answers to a question on this NG must cost the repliers.

Another one would be to reward the most patient fellow...

> However, these are only my ideas and I am open to any and all
> suggestions from the broader Python community about how awards might be
> used to provide incentives to improve the available information about
> Python, and possibly even the software that's available in Python. I
> have undertaken to make a proposal to the PSF Board for an incentive
> scheme. So please let me have your ideas.

Most bugs fixed in the month for the developers?
(Watch them scrabbling for the easy ones  - <G> )

Most Patches reviewed and incorporated?

Best recipe of the week/month/year?

Best Existing Module - don't forget that there has been a lot of effort
put in already into stuff like Twisted, Pyro, SPE, and many more - a
lot of it excellent work provided by rugged individuals, just because
they could...

As somone else has already said :

...... is F******G awesome - and its all in python.

Hey! how about starting with the best suggestion for spending the money...
That should get the ball rolling.

- Hendrik